MU Kicks Off National Coming Out Week

COLUMBIA - Five suicides of gay young people in three weeks is the fact getting attention from celebrities, news outlets, and community members. A fact distracting participants of National Coming Out Week.

"With everything that has been going on, we have had a lot of questions directed to us at the resource center," said Safe Space Coordinator Valerie Pollock.

One project receiving a lot of attention is "It Gets Better." The YouTube channel encourages concerned people to leave videos to at risk gay teens. Encouraging videos have been left by city council members, comedians, actors, and merely concerned citizens.

The channel has received over a million views, and comments like, "I just wanted to say this... This project literally saved my life," leads many to believe it is a success.

Staff at the MU Resource Center believe that all promotion for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans gender, Queer (or LGBTQ) issues is positive, but suicide is not a new issue for this community.

"This has been going on, you know, you just want to yell, and be like this isn't new, this has been happening. This happens a lot in this community," said Pollock.

Despite recent events, community members believe their goals are the same for National Coming Out Week.

"So its the case about bringing about that awareness of what it means to be apart of this community. Or to be a straight ally to this community, but its about having fun," said Ryan Black of the LGBTQ Resource Center.

Having fun at event like today's 15th birthday party for the MU LGBTQ Resource center. Attendees ate rainbow cake and snacks, hoping for another 15 plus years at the university.